[Lyric] The Grind (Original Broadway Cast of "Grind")

(Morning. The GIRLS drag in through the stage door.)

[VERNELLE AND KITTY]
Rise and shine and bump!
Rise and shine and grind!

[FLETA]
Fall out of bed and come here

[RUBY]
Get your ass into gear

[VERNELLE]
Bring the flesh
Forget the mind

[ALL FOUR]
Take your lumps and bumps
To the grind

[MAYBELLE]
Now, ain't you all so fine and smart
That you can pick this place apart
Don't know what nothin' is worth
Don't know you're put on this earth
To do your work the best you know
(They try to escape; she follows.)

And if you work in the grind
And if you shake your behind
Well, that's your work
The best you know!

Just look outside this place
At the lord's lost people
Who carry their hearts
Like a stone
Because they've got no grind
Of their own

[KNOCKABOUTS]
(Finally getting their coffee)
Back to the grind, and then
Get through the grind again

[KNOCKABOUT #1]
But if you're funny, you're good

[KNOCKABOUT #2]
(Admiring one of the GIRLS)
Or if you're pretty, you're good
[KNOCKABOUTS]
And if you're good
The grind is kind
Gotta rise and shine
For the grind

(Meanwhile, in GUS's dressing room, GUS to DOYLE:)

[GUS]
You do the bit
You improve the bit
Then you do the bit again

You do the bit
Then they move the bit
Up a bit
Back a bit

And then you do the new bit
And it ain't no better than the old one
But you get a laugh
And you know, by God
You sold one!

[MAYBELLE]
Well Lord, You worked Your ways again
To help us do our work again
(Simultaneously:)

[MAYBELLE]
And Lord, we know this place
Ain't Your fav'rite place
But we pray You won't pay us no mind
Just let us make our way in the grind

[COMPANY]
Rise and shine and
Rise and shine

[THE WHOLE COMPANY]
(Wherever they are, sing:)
Rise and shine and grind
Rise and shine and grind

[LINETTE]
But if you're pretty, you're good

[GUS AND SOLLY]
And if you're funny, you're good

[SATIN AND THE GIRLS]
So if the people are good

[KNOCKABOUTS AND DOORMAN]
And if the money is good

[THE WHOLE COMPANY]
We're gonna rise each morning
And shine each morning
And make our way
In the grind

(A silent, held moment of togetherness.)